Tom Powers: For Wild, Jared Spurgeon is top dog on second sled

Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon, left, works alongside goalie Josh Harding in the crease to stop a shot by Chicago's Marcus Kruger during Game 2 of the Western Conference playoffs in Chicago on Friday May 3, 2013. (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon looks to pass the puck during the third period of Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinal Sunday, May 5, 2013, at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)

Jared Spurgeon is about elbow high to the rest of the NHL.

That can be daunting enough for a defenseman under normal circumstances. But in the playoffs, when the whole ice sheet becomes a danger zone, it can be downright frightening -- at least for those of us watching. Yet as the Wild do everything in their power to ramp up the physical play, as they strive to create a heavy-hitting contest, Spurgeon can be found motoring in and out of traffic, usually with the puck safely in tow.

He's always been considered a courageous little bugger.

"There's some big bodies out there," he said with a laugh. "But if you have to take a hit to make a play, you take it. It might hurt for the first couple of seconds after, but if you make the play, it feels a lot better."

That is, if you can feel anything at all. Spurgeon, who is 5 feet 9, has been knocked around quite a bit during his three NHL seasons. Little by little, he's learning the best way to position himself so that he is protected most of the time. Clearly, if he goes flying into the corner with some big power forward, he's probably not going to come out. At least not all in one piece.

So he's always learning how to play the angles, how best to use his stick. He's a really good skater. But, seriously, he better be, right? At his size, if he isn't fast, he's going to end up NHL road kill.

Spurgeon has had a thankless job this season. He is the top dog on the Wild's No. 2 sled. But the Wild haven't been able to find him an effective partner.

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And they've tried just about everyone.

Everyone has raved about the top pairing of Ryan Suter and Jonas Brodin. And that's rightly so, as those fellows have logged the most minutes and played during the most crucial situations. But it's very hard to be successful with just one capable pairing.

Back in the day, the Montreal Canadiens were successful with a big three of Serge Savard, Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe. The other blueliners were just warm bodies. But the overall pace of the game was much slower in the 1970s. Today, teams need at least two solid sets of defensemen to be successful.

The Wild have had just one and a half. On the eve of the playoffs, they recalled Marco Scandella from Houston and put him with Spurgeon. Scandella is mobile enough and skilled enough to be a top-four guy alongside Spurgeon. The two things holding him back have been inconsistency and the failure to play up to his size (6-3, 215).

But he and Spurgeon have shown some spark. The Mutt and Jeff combination has done well enough in the first two games against Chicago.

"Yeah, I played with a lot of different partners this year," Spurgeon said. "But (Scandella and I) played a lot together in Houston the first two years so there's sort of old habits with him. And we've been in the same system with Mike Yeo. So we've learned it from the beginning.

"When you're able to play together, you do develop those habits. And he talks a lot out there, too. I'm able to know where he is just by listening to his voice."

Said Scandella: "We have some chemistry from past seasons. He is really easy to play with out there. It's easy to read off of him. Together we work good."

Like most bigger defensemen, Scandella is taking a while longer to develop. But he hasn't looked out of place since being plopped on the second pairing for Game 1 of this series. When he wants to, he can bring a physical presence. The Wild want that from him in addition to his other skills.

Meanwhile, because Spurgeon is in his third year, it's easy to think of him as a crafty veteran. But he's just 23 -- like Scandella -- and this is his first NHL playoff series, too.

"It's still sort of surreal," he said. "First time in playoffs and it's a new experience and an awesome one so far. I was watching playoffs growing up on TV. Now just the intensity, the energy in the building ... The fans were great the other night, and that brings a lot to the team."

Spurgeon started the season playing with Suter but quickly got hurt, which led to the arrival of Jonas Brodin. Now Suter and Brodin appear to be partners for life. Spurgeon still is waiting for that magic to kick in. He's waiting and learning.

"You learn a lot, the tendencies of players, the systems of teams," he said. "You get confident, too, playing more minutes. Positioning is a very important thing."